The number of new condominium and homeowners associations is expected to increase by 4,500 this year, according to projections by the Foundation for Community Association Research, an affiliate organization of Community Associations Institute (CAI).
Representing nearly 25 percent of the housing stock in the U.S., community associations, also known as condominiums, housing cooperatives, and homeowners associations, are home to more than 73 million Americans, according to CAI. The 2021 projections reflect a 1.3 percent increase in new communities.
“Community associations, much like millions of businesses, continue to face difficult financial and operational challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the new research is a positive sign that the housing model remains strong,” says Dawn M. Bauman, CAE, executive director of the Foundation and CAI’s senior vice president of government and public affairs.
Since the 1970s, community associations have been a popular housing choice for people around the world—especially condominium buyers seeking close proximity to city centers, public transportation, and schools. Planned communities provide owners the benefit of shared amenities such as pools, walking trails, and other recreation facilities that may otherwise be unattainable.
According to the National and State Statistical Review for Community Association Data, published by the Foundation, planned communities give local municipalities the ability to transfer the obligation to provide services—trash and recycling removal, snow removal, streetscape beautification, sidewalk and street maintenance and lighting, stormwater management, and more—to homeowners.
Towne Law Elevates Two Of Its Attorneys To Positions As Principals In The Firm
Courtesy Towne Law
Jessica E. Stover, Esq., a former partner of The Towne Law Firm, and Christine E. Taylor, a former associate, have both been named as principal partners of the firm.
Stover is in charge of the firm’s Saratoga Springs office location.
The firm said coupling Stover’s large real estate following with existing real estate matters necessitated an expansion of both real estate attorneys and paralegals in the Saratoga office, with more expansion planned.
Before moving to Saratoga Springs in 2007, Stover attended Union College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. She went on to Syracuse University School of Law, where she received her J.D. degree. She also obtained an L.L.M. in Real Property Development from the University of Miami School of Law.
Stover’s real estate law services include both residential and commercial purchase and sales, leases, bank representation, homeowners’ associations/condo associations; title examination and title insurance law, and estate planning.
Taylor joined the firm in 2018 and has refined her practice to focus primarily on the hospitality industry, serving clients across the entire northeast as well as nationally.
Taylor, originally planning to focus her career on entertainment law, attended UCLA School of Law where she received her J.D. degree.
Mystic World, Long A Fixture In Lake George, Opens A New Shop In Saratoga Springs
©2021 SaratogaPhotographer.com
By Jill Nagy
Whether nostalgic for tie-dye T-shirts or needing just the right crystal to help get through difficult times, Mystic World strives to fill the bill. The business, long a fixture at the Wilton Mall in Saratoga County and in downtown Lake George, recently opened a new store at 423 Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs.
They are still trying to get settled in at the new location, owner Violet Cannistraci said, and December was a very busy month, sometimes too busy for store employees to answer the telephone.
She said people found the Saratoga location mainly by word of mouth but also through listings on Facebook and Google. “The support for local business is amazing,” she said.
Some shoppers patronized both the Wilton Mall and the Saratoga Springs outlets, searching for just the right crystal. Each crystal is unique, Cannistraci noted, hand picked by her at gem shows.
“My house is full of crystals and I always have crystals with me,” she said. They are the most popular item in her stores. People buy them for their possible healing properties, because they are beautiful to look at and as a way to connect with the earth, she said.
Dental Practice Opts To Help The Non-Insured
Updated 2/19/21 corrected print edition firm name and address.
By Jennifer Farnsworth
Saratoga Springs Family Dentistry practice aims to put people at ease in regard to their dental health, even if they have lost their insurance.
Office Manager Bonnie Symon said all seven locations are taking part in a program that offers affordable dental care to those who may have lost their dental insurance or who never had it at all.
“We have had a great response to this, with a lot of people signing up. It’s a wonderful option for people and helps to give them some assurance that they can get the care they need without worrying about how to pay for it,” said Symon.
Symon said with COVID-19 pandemic, many patients found themselves losing their insurance and with that came the worry of how to find quality dental care that they can afford. She said they have reached out to local employers who have been vulnerable to the shaky economy, especially small businesses.
The plan offers member-only free exams, x-rays, and cleanings, plus 15 percent off all other dental services. There are three plan options for routine cleanings and exams, diagnostic X-Rays, and discounts on treatment.
Fingerpaint In Saratoga Springs Takes On Investment Partner As More Growth Planned
By Andrea Harwood Palmer
The Saratoga-based advertising agency Fingerpaint has secured an investment partner, Knox Lane, a private equity firm in San Francisco.
“Even with everything going on in 2020, it was a great year for us,” said Beth Beck, head of the company’s Saratoga Springs office. “It was a year of continued growth.”
She said company founder Ed Mitzen “made the decision to find an investment partner. Not someone to be part of the day-to-day operations, but someone to act as an investment partner,” said Beck. “Over the last part of 2020, Ed spoke with over 30 different investment groups. At the close of the year, he had decided to move forward with our partnership with Knox Lane.”
Mitzen was attracted to Knox Lane’s commitment to make sure there are women in leadership positions.
The investment from Knox Lane is strictly about helping Fingerpaint achieve continued growth, said Beck. Mitzen will maintain control of the company while Knox Lane will provide capital for continued growth capacity within the ad agency, as well as acquisitions.
‘Simply Food’ In Wilton Offers Breakfast, Lunches And Occasional Takeout Dinners
By Jill Nagy
During her nine years operating the Five Points Market and Deli in Saratoga Springs, Maura Pulver often wished she could do “just food” and not worry about the other obligations of operating a neighborhood market.
Now, she has a new operation called Simply Food at 666 Route 9 in Wilton. It’s not really a restaurant, she said, but rather “kind of like a family shop.”
She serves breakfast sandwiches, lunches and, on Tuesday nights, home cooked takeout dinners. The lunch business, she said, has been very good. There are many new stores and offices in the neighborhood and, so far, not many options for those people to buy lunch.
Her breakfast sandwiches are very popular, she said, and dinners sell out most Tuesdays. So much so, she is thinking of adding another takeout night.
Among her breakfast sandwiches selections is the Blueberry Bomb, on grilled and buttered blueberry bread, loaded with cheddar cheese, two eggs, sausage and maple syrup. Another selection, the “horseman breakfast,” consists of two eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, American cheese, and hash brown potatoes on a hard roll.
Grant Cottage, Where President Completed Memoirs, Made National Historic Landmark
Courtesy NYS Parks and Recreation
The Grant Cottage state historic site, a 19th century residence where U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant completed his memoirs shortly before his death, was named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.
Acquired by State Parks in 1957 as a State Historic Site, the 43-acre Saratoga County property includes a two-story residence where Grant, diagnosed with terminal throat cancer, went to complete his memoirs for six weeks immediately prior to his death in July 1885.
“This well-deserved federal designation brings more public awareness to the important role this place played in the life of one of our most famous national leaders,” said State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid. “State Parks is grateful for the years of work invested in obtaining this designation by our Regional Commissioners and the Friends of Ulysses S. Grant Cottage that operates and cares for this site.”
Franklin Community Center Buys MASIE Center Building To Meet Expansion Needs
By Susan Elise Campbell
Franklin Community Center has purchased the former MASIE Center property at 95 Washington St. in Saratoga Springs.
The building will soon be known as The Michael & Stacie Arpey Family Community Center in tribute to the Saratoga Springs philanthropists who donated $1 million to help make the purchase a reality in 2020.
“We had raised the first million dollars when COVID struck,” said center Executive Director Kari Cushing.
Over the past five years the growth in demand for the types of services and outreach Franklin Community Center provides made it clear that more square footage was needed, she said. “This reality led the board of directors to commit to more space.”
The building will be the fourth facility Franklin Community Center manages in order to bring basic necessities and services to the public. Administrative offices, a community room and a food pantry are housed at 10 Franklin St. The distribution center is across the corner at 101 Washington St. There is also a 19-unit rental building at 95 Congress St.
Sen. Tedisco Concerned About Exodus Of Population From NYS, Especially Upstate
Courtesy Sen. Jim Tedisco
By Sen. Jim Tedisco
Do you have a loved one or know someone who has moved out of New York state?
Many people do and the numbers show this is happening all too frequently as children graduate from school and then move elsewhere, or as long-time residents retire and pull up stakes from their communities for another state.
The high cost of living, taxes, and public safety concerns are just some of the reasons people cite for leaving New York state, particularly Upstate. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the exodus from our state.
However, there has not been any real coordinated effort by state government to closely look at why so many people are leaving New York, and to adjust its agenda, as it is hitting Upstate communities especially hard.
As we begin a new year and new legislative session, our top priority should be addressing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic so we can stop the spread of the virus, save lives and safely improve and reopen our economy.
In order to reset New York state by safely restarting our economy, we need to address the elephant in the room that the leaders in our state government have not been talking about: the fact that for the third year in a row, New York leads the nation in out-migration of residents with 126,000 people leaving last year and over one million in the past decade.
New York state followed up its net loss of 1.7 million residents from 2000 to 2009 with a loss of 1.4 million residents this past decade. This loss leads the nation in largest overall population decline, according to Census data.
New York is also facing a skills gap where 42 percent (5.65 million) of New Yorkers have a high school diploma or less and are being left out of the technology and clean energy jobs that the state suggests it has made a push to attract.
Despite COVID-19, SPAC Finished 2020 Without Shortfall; Set To Face New Challenges
Courtesy SPAC
Despite severe challenges caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) closed the year without a budget shortfall, officials said at the organization’s board of directors meeting in December.
Also, given the uncertainties of what 2021 may bring with regard to the pandemic, SPAC is planning for a number of potential scenarios to present a season that will be ready to meet whatever the prevailing conditions are this spring and summer.
“What we know is this,” said Sobol. “One way or another, there will be a SPAC season. And one way or the other, we are committed to ensuring a Saratoga presence by our beloved resident companies.”
Like so many cultural institutions, SPAC’s 2020 was markedly different than what President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol imagined when programming for season was first announced in January of 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“Just over seven months ago, SPAC took the unprecedented measure of cancelling its whole summer season in the face of the worsening coronavirus pandemic,” said Sobol. “Taking that step felt literally like walking off a cliff.”